Category: Weekly Reflections

AI in Education

AI is coming at us at a rapid rate! Today in class we discussed the topic of AI not only as teacher candidates and how we may use it within education but how we use it in our day to day lives and it’s impact, both positive and negative.

When I think I about AI in my own life, I use it or see it being used when I’m accessing google maps, Siri, google search, social media algorithms (predictive), Spotify, Netflix and Youtube (predictive, recommendations). Most recently, just in the past 6 months as I have entered the world of being a student again, I’ve been using more direct forms of AI such as ChapCPT, Canva and image and lesson plan creators.

As someone who is slightly older, I’ve know the world without the internet and AI. In 1993, the internet became accessible to non-experts. I remember having a big clunky computer in the corner of my home and no-one really used it. Sometimes we would play games or do a search, but it wasn’t something we really used as a tool. In high school, I remember there was a computer lab but all we really did was learn how to type and use a keyboard. We followed typing programs/lesson plans and then performed a test to see how efficient and fast we were. There were no chrome carts in classrooms, we didn’t use the internet to advance our learning or assist us. Almost everything was hand written and I don’t have much of a memory about how the internet or computers changed our lives in any way.

Somewhere between the introduction of the internet and today, I got a little lost. I remember I was really against getting a cell phone but finally gave in around 2012. We had a computer or laptop in the home but never used it and although I used social media, I really had no need to use anything else!

Now shift to 2022. Image generators started to become a big deal really quickly. issues generating real people that aren’t real and we are seeing it in our schools. In 2023, AI became accessible to non experts. I missed a lot!!! This year at UVIC has been a very steep learning curve for me and I feel like all I’ve been doing the last 5 years or so is stumble through being a parent to teenagers and try my best to navigate this new world with no instruction manual. It’s been a little scary!

In education, I can see how technology, including AI can be used as a tool but I feel we are in a similar situation. It’s rapidly developing and people are left to make up the rules with no guide book. My thoughts immediately go to our most vulnerable population…..our older individuals, our younger individuals and those with disabilities. As a parent and educator, I want to model the ability to critically think and teach our students to critically examine the AI technology with how fast everything is going. In the classroom, I can teach students trusted sources, trusted media and how to examine through use of strategies.

Below is an example that Michael gave us in class today about students use of AI in Canada. AI can be used to be creative and generate ideas but here is the catch….some students are using it to skip the learning process. This is where the balance of education and being an engaged educator comes in. Sometimes new forms of AI can entice learners to skip steps in learning as AI offers to do things for you and take over. Focus on the process of learning rather than just the product. In learning, the destination is the journey.

https://kpmg.com/ca/en/home/media/press-releases/2024/10/students-using-gen-ai-say-they-are-not-learning-as-much.html

There are also lots of hidden costs of generative AI https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/04/generative-ai-is-cool-but-lets-not-forget-its-human-and-environmental-costs/

For personal use and in educating students, we need to think about your usage (in all aspects) and educate young people. Both google searching and AI inquiries both have global implications. It’s often much to easy to sit behind a device or screen and be totally disconnected from how the usage of these tools leave a global footprint. This is part of the educator and the interconnectedness that we need to circle back to!!

We also need to remind our young people about data privacy-anything you put into generative AI is now part of the model. This means user dates might be exposed to others as AI output, used to train AI models and stolen by bad actors. This is ethically and morally an issue.

A great tool that Michael introduced today was Common Sense Education. It’s a great tool for the pedagogical implication of how to handle AI, concerns, biases, teaching ideas. It’s like a review cite for pedagogical and educational tools. It can give a rating for appropriateness- much more descriptive to assess media you can use in your classroom.

Overall, like everything in life, the usage of AI and technology in education is a balance. From class today, here are some recommendations for teachers:

-Demystify AI- teach learner the nature of generative AI

-Honour learner agency and orchestrate multiple sources of motivation

-Celebrate humanness- develop and cultivate skills that AI cannot do.

**Remember to be creative, curious and open to finding ways in which we can coexist with AI in a healthy way**

Lastly, to show how AI can be used as a tool, I used ChatCPT to help me create a lesson plan. It did a pretty good job. I would still need to access the curriculum to put in more specifics and I would need to tweak it a little to make it my own, but I appreciate the use of this tool 🙂

Here is what I asked:

“write a fun badminton unit plan for grade 8 with a mixture of skill development, games and activities”

Here is what ChatGPT generated:

Here’s a fun and engaging Badminton Unit Plan for Grade 8 that incorporates skill development, games, and activities. The focus is on keeping students active, improving their skills, and making learning fun!

Grade 8 Badminton Unit Plan

Duration: 4 Weeks (8 Lessons)
Lesson Length: 45–60 minutes
Objective:
Students will develop fundamental badminton skills, learn game strategies, and participate in fun activities that enhance their love for the sport.

Lesson Overview

Week 1: Introduction & Basics

• Lesson 1: Badminton Basics & Grip Techniques
• Warm-up: “Shuttle Tag” (students run while passing a shuttle)
• Learn: Forehand and backhand grip
• Activity: Grip relay – students switch grips as they run to a cone and back
• Game: “Balloon Badminton” (use balloons for slow-motion rallies)
• Lesson 2: Serving (High & Low Serves)
• Warm-up: “Footwork Freeze” (students move like badminton players and freeze when called)
• Learn: High serve (for singles), low serve (for doubles)
• Activity: Serve accuracy challenge (aim for hula hoops on the other side)
• Game: “King of the Court” (students rotate in small courts based on winning rallies)

Week 2: Developing Control & Rallies

• Lesson 3: Clear & Drop Shots
• Warm-up: Agility ladder footwork
• Learn: Overhead clear (defensive) & drop shot (offensive)
• Activity: Partner drill – one player does clears, the other does drop shots
• Game: “Drop Shot Duel” (only drop shots allowed, players must move opponents)
• Lesson 4: Net Play & Drive Shots
• Warm-up: “Mirror Movement” (students mimic partner’s movements)
• Learn: Net shots and drive shots
• Activity: Net shot ladder – players move closer to net with each rally
• Game: “Drive Wars” (players rally using only fast, flat shots)

Week 3: Strategy & Game Play

• Lesson 5: Smash & Defensive Lifts
• Warm-up: “Reaction Time” (coach points left or right, students shuffle accordingly)
• Learn: Smash technique & defensive lifts
• Activity: Smash accuracy challenge (hit targets on the court)
• Game: “Smash Survivor” (players must return opponent’s smashes to stay in)
• Lesson 6: Singles & Doubles Strategies
• Warm-up: “Shadow Badminton” (students practice footwork without a shuttle)
• Learn: Court positioning, attacking/defensive formations
• Activity: Singles & doubles rotation drill
• Game: “Mystery Matchups” (randomized teams play short doubles games)

Week 4: Tournament & Fun Games

• Lesson 7: Mini-Tournament & Trick Shots
• Warm-up: “Badminton Yoga” (dynamic stretching)
• Learn: Fun trick shots (behind-the-back, between-the-legs shots)
• Activity: Round-robin mini-tournament
• Game: “Trick Shot Challenge” (students attempt creative shots)
• Lesson 8: Ultimate Badminton Challenge & Reflection
• Warm-up: “Shuttle Toss” (throw shuttle into targets for points)
• Activity: Obstacle course (weave through cones, hit targets, play quick rallies)
• Game: “Crazy Rallies” (play with random rules: no smashes, only net shots, etc.)
• Reflection: Group discussion on skills learned and favorite moments

Assessment & Evaluation

• Skill Checklists (serving, rally consistency, footwork)
• Peer & Self-Assessment (students rate their improvement)
• Participation & Sportsmanship (engagement, teamwork, attitude)

This plan keeps students engaged, active, and learning in a fun way while progressively building their skills. Let me know if you’d like adjustments! 🚀🏸

Photo by “My Life Through A Lens” on Unsplash

Today we started our day doing a peer review with each other for our WordPress websites. I really liked being able to see a peers format and ideas. It made me reflect on the fact that I want to take some time to work on formatting my website to look more user friendly and reflect my thoughts. It was a good reminder though that these spaces are a personal expression of ourselves and our creativity. It’s a really great way of capturing moments and the journey of our education.

Next we moved on to speak about this really neat concept I’ve never heard of before- EdCamp.

EdCamp is an idea that allows for opportunity to facilitate large groups for learning in a democratic way. The goal is to empower educators and give them the choice of speaking about something that is important to them. EdCamp gives space for collaboration and conversation that identify a common theme or topic to explore and what they can teach others about. It takes the pressure off of an educator or individual to be the expert. It’s a great space for individuals to share experiences, generate questions, be curious and explore a topic in more depth.

In class today, we ran a mini EdCamp to explore certain topics that were proposed in class. We all had the opportunity to come up with ideas. After everyone contributed, we were give stickers and we got to vote on our top three that we were interested in speak about in more detail. Through this voting system, Michael chose the top 4 and we got to chose which topic we wanted to follow and speak about in more detail. Ideally, this would last longer and the groups would be closer together which would allow peoples to vote with their feet, encouraging individuals to move from topic to topic. Today though, I stayed with one group. We spoke about how to incorporate and support gardening within a classroom. It was really great to hear a group of people who were passionate about a topic come together and purpose ideas and speak positively about a topic. To highlight some of the conversations:

-can be used in indoor and outdoor spaces

-community or collective gardening

-gardening is experiential but here is a lot of cross curricular and curricular outcomes,

-Also incorporates and highlights core competencies, SEL, sharing, leadership, mental health, Indigenous learning, collaboration, responsibility

-Sometimes you need to get creative

-Look for grants and work with administration for financial support

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Photo by Firmbee.com on Unsplash

Today we did a class meeting via Zoom. I know there can be downfalls to Zoom but I actually really like it. I definitely miss the social aspect of learning but it was nice as a one off. I was able to still focus on the class while also get my daughter to her soccer tournament and I appreciate that aspect!

So in saying that, because I was in my truck at my daughter’s soccer game, I played around with the blurred background image hoping people wouldn’t notice where I was. I didn’t quite work, people were still able to guess I was in a vehicle but it was definitely better than not having that option. I’ll need to go back into Zoom and play around with the different virtual background and see if there is something that may work better next time.

I also didn’t know that you can use Zoom to record and make videos. It makes sense but I just never thought about Zoom in that way. It would obviously really benefit if you had multiple users making a video together but I could also just use Zoom to produce videos on my own.

Another different way to make videos and to store and share information is through YouTube. I have to admit, I’ve never really been a YouTube person. I’ll access some videos if I’m trying to learn about a topic or do some research, but I haven’t used it for much more than that. Today also happened to be the 20th anniversary of Youtube!! I know 20 years sounds like a long time, but it reminds me that technology and educational technology is still pretty new. It’s developing at a rapid pace but we are still learning so much. Michael mentioned having a YouTube profile that maintains a lower profile is also a great way to produce educational videos or a great way to connect and share with your students. We can create a profile that is ‘unlisted’ and it is very accessible at little to no cost. This is something I have never thought about before but I can see the benefits. I’d really like to look into this topic more deeply. I think it’s a great option for someone like me who isn’t very techy but is still looking to be a part of the educational technology world.

Videos made in Zoom and YouTube are a way of building my resource library as a teacher candidate that will help me support and connect with my future learners but I also wanted to think more about digital curation. I currently have just started using Google docs to store and share my work. Before that, I just kept files on my computer and they were somewhat organized but didn’t really allow me to network with other people. What I like most about Google docs is that we can share resources quite easily and I can open these documents and resources from any other computer. It’s not just locked into my own files on my own computer.

With my digital curation, some tips I took away from today’s class was to be intentional, use good names so it’s easier to remember and find things and to get started! Being a networked teacher and having another way to connect with others teachers and students will not only make my life easier but it’s a great form of multi-modal learning and ties into UDL. I need to stop thinking of educational technology as something outside of my scope that I don’t know anything about. It doesn’t need to be complicated and I can use the tools I already know and build from there.

Photo by NordWood Themes on Unsplash

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

This week we had a guest speaker named Rich McCue from the Digital Scholarship Commons at UVIC. He came in to help us learn, practice and navigate video and audio literacy. Specifically, we spoke about iMovie and podcast creations.

Since I am completely new to this learning, I found today really challenging. I found some of the language being used in class intimidating in the sense that I didn’t really know what it meant and I was pretty slow at navigating the information but the good news is, the website that we were using to practice was pretty user friendly!

lib.uvic.ca/vid

I didn’t manage to get through all the steps in the practice guide, but this is the video I made so far. I was able to open and navigate iMovie as well as cut, edit, splice and add audio.

I also think it would be a really great idea for me to go check out the Learning Commons or the Digital Scholarship Commons. Rich mentioned there are a lot of free resources including 3D printers, workshops, generative AI, video editing and podcasting materials as well as additional information. This also includes borrowing gear/equipment which may be really great for some of our podcast assignments coming up this term.

So unfortunately, I was so slow in learning the iMovie that I didn’t get to play around much with the podcast practice but I look forward to reading through the slides and taking my time.

Additional to the learning, Rich offered some great tips. When making videos, Rich suggested using stabilizers or tripods, use external audio, be aware of wind or outside noise that may come across in your audio, test audio on location and again, be aware of surroundings that may distract from your video success. He also gave us some editing tips. The one I got to test out today was to scrub through the video and to use the space bar when pausing and playing to make cuts or edits. This seemed to work out well, but I have lots more practicing to do:)

Lastly, Rich gave a really interesting piece of advice and that was satisfaction rates go down dramatically with bad audio (vs video). So my main take away today was to keep practicing and pay extremely close attention to all his audio tips and tricks when making videos or podcasts if I want to be successful.

Thanks Rich!

Photo by Juliana Malta on Unsplash

Photo by Nghia Nguyen on Unsplash

WOW! Today was an eye opener for me. I really loved how we discussed specific tools we can use and how they can make an impact on our teaching and our learners.

I’ve been using PowerPoint since the dawn of time! I’ve made some pretty bad presentations. It was the tool of choice during my undergrad 25 years ago and I had no clue it was capable of creating the graphics and multimedia that was presented today. In class today, we had the opportunity to practice using a tool and creating images and I chose to practice in Powerpoint. Although I still have a lot of exploring and learning to do, I can see how it can be a great tool for both teachers and learners a like. I personally find it more user friendly and accessible than other tools such as Canva and I love that it’s an older tool that is being explore and utilized in different ways.

Another thought from today is the idea about how multimedia and graphics can be used to compliment my work. With the boom and technology, specifically AI and social media, I haven’t thought of technology in the best light. But after today, I can see more of a positive path with how technology can be incorporated into the classroom.

More specifically, today we learnt about the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning and the Dual-Coding Theory (auditory and visual). I love the idea of leveraging together multiple ways of learning in an active process based on prior knowledge. The idea is that people can learn more deeply from multiple ways of processing the information. It’s a great reminder as a teacher candidate who is passionate about providing UDL in my classroom. Multimedia not only engages these multiple channels of learning but it also allows for imagination, creativity and interaction. More specifically for the teacher, it can create a sense of ownership, is an adaptable resource that can be updated, provides inspiration for your learners, is sharable and can be used over and over with simple edits.

In closing, what I think I took away from this more than anything is that by using interactive sessions using basic multimedia tools, interaction doesn’t need to be difficult. It can be low tech. It can bring the outside in, open the imagination and can lead to further conversations. It also helps with engagement of all learners. There is definitely a place for multimedia and graphic tools in the classroom for both teachers and learners. I’m excited to keep practicing and learning more.

Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash

Photo by Rodion Kutsaiev on Unsplash

This week we had a guest speaker, Jesse Miller, who came and spoke to the class about personal mobile technology in the classroom, balancing use and regulation and navigating professional boundaries.

I was quite impressed to hear about Jesse’s resume. He sounds like a very accomplished professional in a world that is changing and evolving extremely quickly.

The discussion surrounding personal mobile use and how we are responsible creators both inside and outside of the classroom was very interesting and a bit of a scary reminder that as educators we must remain extremely careful with what we post, how we post, where we post and who we are posting to.

At one point Jesse asked what terrifies us about 2025. I commented that I’m not sure I’m terrified but the rapid pace and feeling of uncertainty around AI and social media is quite scary to me on multiple levels. As an educator, we speak about the positive and negatives surrounding technology, including AI and social media, often.

Although Jesse was quite convincing and I could tell he was a passionate supporter of technology and AI, I have a bit of a different opinion about the benefits.

I belelive there is a direct correlation between the usage of social media and AI with our societal mental health issues. The development of technology came on too fast and too strong with little to no legislation on how to navigate it. I’ve read various articles and I’ve done research in other classes that have pointed to the negative effects of AI on our youth. It’s scary! And social media is no different. It’s not empowering our society. It’s not something I want to encourage our youth to spend time with or on.

Now in saying this, I do understand the importance of balance and I do understand this is the way the world is going. And I do see benefits of technology when it’s being used as a tool or for creating community and connections. But it’s being relied on too heavily and we are seeing this within our world. Humans are no longer developing social emotional skills and although they are connected online, they are drastically disconnected from their lives. Educating and giving our learners the skills to be successful is important and I’m hopeful that maybe one day, stricter laws, legislation, protection and navigation surrounding technology will be in place to protect every individual using it but in the meantime I’m skeptical.

Jesse’s reminders about protecting ourselves as an educator really hit home though. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in all the hype and want to be part of a larger online community but I know I need to protect myself and my learners.

Lastly, Jesse brought up a tool for educators called DIFFIT. It’s a site that has resources, tools and teaching materials for educators. It looks really great and I’m going to continue to check out what it has to offer.

https://web.diffit.me

Photo by Steinar Engeland on Unsplash

Over the last week I was able to get my website up and running and we had a great class learning about Most Likely to Succeed, FIPPA and Open Education.

The film, Most Likely to Succeed was super interesting to me. What I loved most about it was the ability to create a great sense of belonging for these students and to watch them succeed and feel a sense of accomplishment at school was something I think we all strive for as educators. It really got me thinking…is our current education system allowing our students to thrive? Are they happy? Do they feel successful at the end of the day, month, year? And as educators, are we preparing them for the future that lays ahead? I realize that there may be no perfect answers to these questions and I also realize that not all learners would thrive in an inquiry based education system but I can’t help but feel it may be better then what they are doing now.

https://www.whatschoolcouldbe.org/most-likely-to-succeedhttps://www.whatschoolcouldbe.org/most-likely-to-succeed

I do believe that we are slowly heading in the right direction and that our education system is slowly changing and I can only hope that as a teacher candidate myself, that I can become part of the solution (not the problem)!

In speaking about FIPPA this week, learning my role as an individual and as an educator was very interesting. The world of technology including information sharing, images, videos and AI are blowing up quicker than I can keep up. This was a great overview and a reminder for me about how to progress responsibly. I also think this is a great time for educators to be constantly teaching and reminding our students about privacy, information and how to protect themselves within the use of technology and social media as well.

Photo by Sergey Zolkin on Unsplash

Lastly, discussing Open Education for me this week was great!! I felt way more supported coming out of class knowing about more resources I could access and feeling more confident in how to use images and link in material into my website or my future classroom properly. I had never heard of Pexels and Unsplash before. After checking these out, I’m not sure I will ever use a random Google image again. The quality was great and now knowing these are sharable images and I can give thanks back to the creator is great. I also did a quick check of the OER Commons for curriculum materials and I’m excited to go back and take a deeper look into that resource. I can see it being extremely useful during practicum.

https://unsplash.com

https://www.pexels.com

https://oercommons.org